KPTZ2 TMF 002: Involuntary Sanctuary
by KP-TZ2
Summary: Kim and Ron, a simple rescue mission, to a special house...in The Twilight Zone.  From The Middleton Files.  Stay tuned for an important public service annoucement following the show....
1. Prologue

**KP-TZ - The Middleton Files: **_**Involuntary Sanctuary**_

Disclaimer/Author's Notes: _**Kim Possible**_ and all the characters of the show are owned by the Walt Disney Corporation. _**The Twilight Zone**_ was created by Rod Serling; all rights to _**The Twilight Zone**_ are owned by Viacom. All other characters are the creations of the TZ2-KP team, and may not be used without their express permission.

This is a strictly not-for-profit effort

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It was a blistering hot summer, and the entire State of Colorado was in the grips of one of the worst droughts ever. Warnings were posted at all camping sites that there was to be NO CAMPFIRES for any reason at all. But of course, as they say, it only takes one…

Charles Dowdy was an accomplished camper. He had done so for many years, and actually his Grandfather taught him in his younger years. There were two things his Grandfather always, always told him… make sure your fire is Dead Out, and never leave hot coals unattended.

On this particular night, Charles knew of the fire danger, but he knew what he was doing. He even had a gallon of water at his side to help put the fire out. It was getting on about 11:30 at night, and he was sitting at the edge of the fire on an old log, just looking at the stars and listening to the wolves howl at the full moon.

What he didn't take into account, was that the drought had also affected the wild life in the area. Some of the animals were becoming brazen in their attacks, and the wolves were one of the species doing so.

Charles was very tired, and he should have gone to bed. But he wanted to stay up and tend the fire. It was almost out, and he could have dowsed it with the water, but he just didn't feel like it. He never saw the pack circling him, and by the time he knew what was happening, it was too late. The pack leader jumped, and latched onto his neck.

From the force of the wolf's weight, it threw Charles and the wolf into the dying fire, and spread the hot wood around the area, immediately igniting the dry brush nearby. The wolves retreated as a result of the rising flames, but Charles couldn't, as sharp teeth had severed his jugular. He bled out just before the flames reached his body and consumed him.

The fire grew, and wasn't noticed until about midnight by a Spotter high in his post. By then, the fire had destroyed 25 acres of dry forest, took out some minor phone lines, and was approaching houses located about 10 miles from the town's border.

An elderly woman owned one of those houses, and her name was Maxine James.

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The entire Middleton Fire Department, plus their Volunteers, were called to the blaze. Among all the fire fighters were two people who weren't even out of High School yet, two teenagers who had saved the world on numerous occasions… they were Kim Possible and Ron Stoppable.

The incident Commander assigned them to the evacuation team to get to all the houses that were in line of the advancing flames. The sun was just starting to rise, and as a result, the winds were starting to pick up. One of the houses that they had to get to first, was the one owned by Maxine James.

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(Director) Cue the ticking clock…

(Director) Cue the music… and…

ACTION!

(The camera zooms in on the back of the chair in a room filled with computer monitors, and the chair swivels to face the camera.)

"Good Evening… I'm Dr. Wade Load…

(In wades mouth is a rather large cigar, and he is bringing a lit match up as if to light it.)

(Wade looks at the match, and then moves the cigar around in his mouth as if he is tasting it for the first time. With a quick flip of his wrist he distinguishes the lit match.)

"Ugh! Why am I doing this? Gopher! Can you take this nasty thing and toss it for me? Thanks… Anyways…

"Picture this…

"Two teenagers who had saved the world on numerous occasions…

"About to do what was considered a routine evacuation of houses that were in line of an advancing forest fire...

"Little did they know, that the one house they had to evacuate… The house of Maxine James…

"Has a doorway that is opening to a different location...on tonight's episode of KP-TZ: The Middleton Files:

"**Involuntary Sanctuary"**

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	2. Involuntary Sanctuary

**KP-TZ - The Middleton Files: **_**Involuntary Sanctuary**_

Disclaimer/Author's Notes: _**Kim Possible**_ and all the characters of the show are owned by the Walt Disney Corporation. _**The Twilight Zone**_ was created by Rod Serling; all rights to _**The Twilight Zone**_ are owned by Viacom. All other characters are the creations of the TZ2-KP team, and may not be used without their express permission.

This is a strictly not-for-profit effort

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Team Possible arrived at the edge of town where the incident command was located, and as soon as they stepped out of the car, a voice called out.

"Kim! Ron!" The Middleton Fire Chief called out as emergency personnel of all kinds were running about performing the duties they had been assigned. "Over here!"

Team Possible walked over to a set of 3 folding tables arranged in a single row. The Fire Chief stood at one end with 3 radios, a fluorescent lantern, and a large map arranged in front of him.

"It's good to see you. We sure can use the extra help."

"As always, Chief O'Malley." Kim said as she shook the burly man's hand.

"Let me get right to it." Kim nodded her head, and he continued. "Our evacuations are just getting ready to start, but there is one house that has been cut off from any of our efforts to get in. No one has been able to get near it since it's basically surrounded by fire. We've been able to keep the flames away from the main house by dropping slurry, and water from Lake Middleton. We need you two to get there and evacuate the resident."

He pointed at the spot where the house was located on the map in front of him. "I take it all power and phone lines connected to the house have been destroyed?" Kim asked.

"Unfortunately, yes. We have one radio for you to take with you to keep in contact with us." The Fire Chief handed the radio to Kim and gave the two teens a worried look. "This is going to be a very dangerous mission. The two of you will be required to perform a tactical parachute drop into the area we have been able to keep free of fire. As of now, there is an area around the house free of fire that is about 200 square yards, but we're not sure how long it will hold. Any advanced rescue personnel are still at least an hour away, and we're running out of time. You're all we've got to pull off this rescue."

"Only 300 square yards?" Ron said with a worried look on his face.

"It's no big Ron… We can do it…" Kim then looked back at the chief. So, how we doing this?"

"In an effort to keep the flames from encroaching on your position, the two of you will ride in on a slurry plane as it flies in to dump its load. Then when one of the helicopters come in with a water bucket, it will pick you up and fly the three of you back out."

Kim nodded in agreement to the plan. "Just tell us when a plane is ready to go."

The Fire Chief pointed towards a section of road where planes were being loaded with slurry from trucks and then taking off on a long stretch of open road… "There's one ready now."

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In just a matter of 15 minutes, Kim and Ron were in one of the slurry planes approaching their drop point. When the pilot spoke into his throat mic both Kim and Ron could hear him through their helmets. "OK Team Possible… My initial approach is going to be high so you can make your jump, and then I'm going to come around and drop my load. I'll be dropping on a different vector so our paths won't intersect."

Ron yelled to Kim over the drone of the engines. "What did he say?"

Kim rolled her eyes, and restated what the pilot just said. "He said he will try not to run into us while we are parachuting in!"

The two teens kept an eye on the jump lights, and the sequence started. It went red… yellow… green. Just before Kim could yell "Jump!", the plane hit a rising air current caused by a large area of fire underneath them. It threw the plane upwards at an alarming rate causing Kim and Ron to be flattened on the floor.

"Ron!" Kim yelled out standing back up. "We need to jump now, or we'll miss the drop zone!" Just as Ron stood, Kim ran directly at him and performed a beautiful flying tackle that carried them both out the door and into free fall. Almost immediately they both pulled their ripcords, and they slowed to a gentle descent.

Ron yelled over at Kim as they were floating only a few yards from each other. "You could have warned me Kim!"

"Sorry Ron… We had to jump immediately or we could have missed our drop zone." Kim looked down and could see they were indeed headed into an area not yet destroyed by fire. Then a small clearing opened up in the tress, and she pointed. "There Ron…"

"Gotcha KP!"

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The two dropped down without further incident (well if you don't count the fact that as soon as Ron touched down his pants fell to his ankles). Kim had landed first, so by the time Ron had his pants pulled back up, she had her parachute rolled up and stuffed into a nearby bush.

As Ron did the same with his 'chute, Kim pulled out her Kimmunicator to check their position with the built-in GPS. "OK… Looks like we need to head that way about 150 yards and we should see the house."

She then pulled out the radio and called back to their incident commander informing him that they landed without any problems.

After walking for at least 15 minutes, Ron was starting to get nervous. "Kim… Shouldn't we be there by now? Are you sure the Kimmunicator is working correctly?"

"No problems here." Kim said looking up from the display as she held it in front of her. Then she pointed off to her right a bit. "It should be just beyond this small rise…"

The two trudged up a small hill and as soon as they reached the top, sure enough, the house came into view. It was a small two story, simply built as a basic square. It had a porch on the front with a swing on one end, and the front entrance was a screen door.

As they were walking up to the house, Ron spoke. "Kim… Do you notice anything wrong with this picture?"

"What do you mean Ron?"

"I don't smell or see any smoke. And it's so… quiet." Ron stopped and slowly turned around in place, looking at the surrounding trees. As he did so, he saw the main road coming up to the house that became the driveway in front of the garage.

"You're right Ron. This is creepy." Kim took the radio and keyed it to call the Fire Chief. "Incident Command, this is Team Possible we're at the house." She released the button, and was all they heard was static.

Kim repeated her call again. "Incident Command, this is Team Possible… Do you copy?" Again all that answered her was static.

"Try the Kimmunicator…" Ron said, just as Kim had pulled it out of her pocket.

"It's dead too."

"That's a bad word choice there Kim." Ron found himself looking at the front door of the house. "Well, should we at least see if Mrs. James is OK?"

Kim nodded and the two of them walked up to the house, not even noticing that their footfalls weren't making any sound. When they stepped onto the wooden steps leading up the porch, a solid 'thump' was all they heard each time that their feet landed on the wood.

Kim went to knock on the screen door, and before she could do so, the interior door came open, startling them both. There stood Mrs. James in her tell-tale red dress, and her white hair all done up as if she had just been to the salon.

"Kimberly! Ronald!" She said. "I was expecting you. Please… please… come in."

The two walked in and Mrs. James closed the door behind them. While Kim asked the elderly woman if she was OK, Ron couldn't help but look around the old house. It was decorated with rich mahogany wood, and had an air of being quite old.

"So, you like the house Ronald?" Mrs. James said, startling Ron out of his reverie.

"Yes… yes, I do."

"Would the two of you like a tour?" She said as if she didn't know of the flames that surrounded her house just a few hundred yards away.

"Mrs. James…" Kim started to say.

"Please… Call me Maxine."

"Maxine… We need to get you out of here, right now. The forest fire is going to overtake this place in a matter of minutes. The fire fighters can't hold it back forever."

"Oh I'm sure you have time for a quick tour. Now come… let me show the two of you around." She hooked her arm in Ron's and started to pull him towards what appeared to be the kitchen. He shot a worried look at Kim who started to follow.

They walked into the brightly-lit Kitchen, and immediately Kim knew something wasn't right, but she couldn't put a finger on it. "Let me make the two of you a sandwich. You must be hungry, running all around the world saving people…"

As Maxine started to pull dishes from the cupboard to make a snack for the two, Kim snapped her fingers at her realization. The lights!

"Mrs. … err… Maxine? How do you have lights? I thought all the power lines were destroyed by the fire?"

"Didn't you know? I have a back-up generator in the back." The two teens gave her an understanding look. "Now let me make you some sandwiches."

"We really don't have the time…" Kim started to say, and was shushed by the elderly woman, pointing at her with a butter knife in hand. For the next few seconds the only sound was the clinking of the knife in the near empty jar of mayonnaise.

"Fiddle sticks…" Maxine said. "Out of spread. Let me get another jar from the pantry."

The elderly Maxine shuffled across the kitchen, and walked into a pantry just off to the side. Kim looked across the table at Ron with wide eyes. "Ron! This woman is crazy! We don't have time for this! In a matter of minutes this whole place is going to be an inferno!"

Kim pulled out the radio and tried to call again. "Incident Command, this is Team Possible… Do you read?" Again they heard the crackle of static, but this time it sounded like something was coming through. "Incident Command… please repeat!"

"sssssss… fire… you… ssssssss…get out… there…sssssss" Kim started to look wildly around the house at the windows, expecting to see the glow of the fire, but there was none.

"Kim…" Ron said standing at the back porch door holding the small drape to one side looking out. "I don't see anything out there. Maybe they were able to put the fire out?" Just as he placed a hand on the doorknob to open the door, Maxine came out of the pantry.

"Don't open that door!" She said.

"What? Why not?" Ron said turning around. "I don't see any fire out there… Maybe if we make a run for it, we can make it out of here before it arrives. You've got a car or something the garage, don't you? We can take that?"

"Just… Please… don't open the door… Not yet… OK?" She walked over to Ron, took his hand, and led him back to the table imploring him to sit. "You too Kimberly. Please sit… I have some lemonade."

"I… don't know about this," Kim said as she was looking out the drapes covering the window above the kitchen sink. "This is all just too weird."

"Don't worry. I'm sure you have time to have a sandwich and a glass of lemonade. Now come… sit." Maxine took Kim by her elbow and led her to the table, pulling out a chair. With the confusion of not seeing the fire out the window, and the garbled communication on the radio, Kim wasn't sure what to think. She sat down with a worried look on her face.

"This is great, Mrs. J." Ron said with a mouthful of sandwich, took a swallow of lemonade and raised the glass. "This is homemade, isn't it?"

"Yes Ronald, it is. Would you like more?" He nodded, and Maxine went to the refrigerator and took a full pitcher of lemonade that still had ice cubes floating in it. "Kimberly… please, eat. If you don't want the sandwich now, at least take it with you."

"Thanks… I'll do that." Kim had placed her backpack on the chair next to her earlier, and she unzipped a pocket.

"Here you go dear." Maxine said as she handed Kim a plastic bag to store the sandwich in. Kim took the bag, zipped up the sandwich, and stuffed it in the side pocket. By the time she had done this, Ron had finished his sandwich and second glass of lemonade. "At least drink your lemonade."

Kim picked up the glass and downed it two gulps. "OK… now we've GOT to get out of here. That fire was moving pretty quick, and I'm surprised that this house isn't full of smoke. Let's go…"

Kim stood, and started towards the front door, intent on leaving whether this woman wanted to or not. She was just a few steps from the door when Maxine called out again. "Please Kimberly… don't open that door. I beg you."

"But why Maxine?" Kim said almost yelling.

"I'm sorry, but you just can't leave… yet."

Kim stepped closer to the door, and placed her gloved hand on the doorknob. "Now Ron and I leaving whether you want to or not. C'mon, Ron… Yeowtch!" Kim yanked her hand from the doorknob, her leather glove smoking from the heat.

"The fire is just outside this door!" Kim yelled. "Quick… Ron! Try the back door!"

Ron went to the back kitchen door and tapped the doorknob a couple of times with his bare hand. "This one's hot too, Kim!"

"We're surrounded…" Kim said as she looked around and ran up to a window, throwing the curtains aside expecting to see flames everywhere. Instead all she saw was a bright clear day. "What the…? OK… We're breaking out a window. I don't know what is going on here, but we are leaving… NOW! Ron! Grab one of the kitchen chairs, and we're going to break out this window and leave!"

Dutifully, Ron grabbed one of the wooden chairs, and headed into the front room where Kim was. He raised the chair over his head to throw it through the window, and suddenly they both heard a very distinctive sound behind them. (Cha-Chink)

Kim slowly turned around, as did Ron, but he still held the chair above his head. He dropped the chair behind him, but continued to hold his hands high. Kim slowly raised her hands, and they just stared at Maxine James, as she now had a shotgun pointing at the two of them.

"Mrs. James…" Kim said, her voice shaking a little, "Wh… what are you doing?"

"I told you Kimberly… You can't leave. Yet." She shook the gun to one side, indicating the couch. "Now please… sit down, and be comfortable. I think you have time to play a game of checkers."

"Checkers!" Kim almost screamed. "You… you want to play a game when there's… there's…"

Kim went over to the curtains again, and threw them aside revealing the peaceful scene once again. She shook her head and said, "I… I just don't understand this. We look out the windows and everything looks like a nice sunny day, no fire anywhere. Yet when we touch the doors, there's heat as if there is fire just on the other side. And then there's you," Kim nodded at Maxine, "Who won't let us leave, and now you want to play a game of checkers? Something is not right here."

"Please, Kimberly…" Maxine said again, "Just one game. See? I already have the board set up? Looks like Ronald wants to play."

Kim looked down at the coffee table in front of her, and saw a checker board all set up ready to go, and Ron was sitting on a chair opposite the couch. She would have sworn the board wasn't there a minute ago.

Kim sat down on the couch looking at Ron, who shrugged his shoulders, looking quite confused also. Maxine stayed standing beside them with the shotgun pointed down at the floor. "You want to go first, KP?"

Kim slid a checker piece forward, and before she knew it, they were both really getting into the game… after what only seemed like a few minutes, there was only two of Ron's black pieces left, and Kim had three plus one king. Just as Kim was about to jump one of Ron's remaining pieces, they both heard what sounded like the roar of… engines?

Kim stood up and walked to the front door. She pulled the curtains back, and stumbled back at what she saw. It was night out! "What the…?" She looked out the curtains again, and then saw headlights coming up the main road, approaching the house.

"Ron…? They're here! We can leave!" Kim tentatively laid her hand on the doorknob, and noticed it wasn't hot anymore. She opened the door as two jeeps parked in the drive. She called over her shoulder, not looking back in the house. "Ron… get Maxine… We're leaving. She stepped out the front door, and immediately searchlights that were coming from one of the jeeps assaulted her eyes.

Stepping further out on the porch, Kim held a hand up in an attempt to block the light. She heard footsteps beside her, and spoke back to Ron, not turning her head. "Ron? Do you have Mrs. James?" For some reason Ron was silent.

"Ron…?" Kim turned around and saw the back of Ron as he was looking back into the house. Or what was left of it. Kim's hand went to her mouth, gasped and caught herself from stumbling back by grabbing on to Ron's arm.

Looking at the house, Kim saw the entire structure was completely gutted by fire. The entire second floor was gone, and all that was left was some of the walls, and part of the ceiling. The entire porch roof was gone, and they were standing on scorched wood. Kim then saw that Ron was looking down at something on the floor just inside the threshold of the door.

There on the floor was the charred and burned body of an elderly woman. Most of the flesh was burned away as some bone could be seen through the ash, and a small piece of red cloth was seen sticking out. It was a small piece of the old woman's favorite dress.

Kim's knees buckled as did Ron's and they both dropped to the charred and burnt wood of the porch, clutching on to each other. They heard footsteps behind them, and then a voice they immediately recognized. It was Fire Chief O'Malley.

"Are you two OK? Are you hurt?" He said with concern, and looked inside the house over their heads, took a deep breath, and sighed from what he saw. "Looks like this place was completely destroyed. Too bad about Mrs. James… She was a good woman."

The Fire Chief reached down and helped the teens to stand. "But the two of you aren't even scorched, or hurt? How did you even survive?"

Kim and Ron just looked at each other with mouths open. They both stuttered, not knowing what to say. "I… we… Maxine here…"

They let themselves be led down the burned porch and to the waiting emergency vehicles. Personnel took off their backpacks and placed blankets over their shoulders as it as starting to get cool with the setting sun. The Fire Chief came over to the two and handed each of them a bottle of water.

"The only thing I don't get, is how you knew that her first name was Maxine? Everyone around here knew her as Dolores. Did you kids know her?" Kim and Ron absently shook their heads while downing the water. "Are you kids hungry? Do you need anything to eat?"

Realization dawned on Kim, and she reached over to her backpack without saying a word. She unzipped the side pocket, and pulled out a freshly made sandwich.

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(Camera zooms in to the sandwich in Kim's hand and then fades to black.)

(Reverse fade from black to Wade sitting in an easy chair, and we only see him about waist up.)

"Kim Possible, and Ronald Stoppable. Two extraordinary teens that save people. But this time it seems that someone else saved them. Someone saved them," Wade smiled, "courtesy of _**The Middleton Files**_, in…the _**Twilight Zone**_"

(Wade reaches off camera and his hand comes back holding a glass of lemonade. He salutes the camera with the glass, and the scene fades to black as he takes a sip. Just as the scene turns completely black he speaks, sounding surprised…)

"Wow! This is homemade!"

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Please stay tuned for an important public service announcement...coming up next...


	3. Public Service Announcement PSA

**KP-TZ - The Middleton Files: **_**Involuntary Sanctuary**_

Disclaimer/Author's Notes: **Kim Possible** and all the characters of the show are owned by the Walt Disney Corporation. **The Twilight Zone** was created by Rod Serling; all rights to **The Twilight Zone** are owned by Viacom. All other characters are the creations of the TZ2-KP team, and may not be used without their express permission.

This is a strictly not-for-profit effort

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This is a Public Service Announcement, brought to you by Bueno Nacho.

"Bueno Nacho: home of the Naco.

"Come: Grande-Size!"

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Fade in, interior.

The room, filled with computer equipment, is also filled with a dark blue smoke. In the middle of the room, a heavy young man is spraying a fire extinguisher at a steaming monitor on a desk.

(Director's voice, from off-set, softly speaks) "Dr. Load, you're on."

(The young man with the large red extinguisher turns and faces the camera).

"Hello, I'm Wade Load"

"Every day, thousands of person-hours of artistic efforts are obscured, and many creative minds are damaged, through the indiscriminate spreading of Flames.

"Once a flame war starts on a given Internet site, it is often very difficult to stop before many residents have been driven from their virtual habitat.

"When you encounter a flamer, do not provide them with new fuel. Don't respond to the flame yourself, but inform your web-site administrators and moderators immediately.

(Wade sets aside the fire extinguisher and bends down behind the desk.)

"And remember,"

(Standing up, Wade has a shovel in his hand and is wearing a ranger's wide-brimmed hat.)

"Only **you** can prevent Internet Flaming."

(Director) "CUT!"

Wade removes the ranger's hat and looks at it, then looks up and grins.

"I'm not sure I can _**'bear'**_ this hat," Wade smiles and, as the scene begins to fade, twin jets of seltzer water from off-camera strike Wade in the head: one from the left, and one from the right. Giggles follow from both sides, and Wade, dripping-wet, turns to the left:

"**Joss**!" Followed my more giggles, and he turns right:

"**Kim**!?" even more giggles, and suddenly a splash! as the contents of a full bucket of lemonade (easily identified by the half-lemons accompanying the liquid) falls directly on Wade's head from above.

He just stands, now, looking like a sweet-and-sour super-genius, and then looks up just before all light disappears, and an amazed look crosses his face:

"**MOM**????" the laughter cascades down from the ceiling.

Complete fade to black.


End file.
